


Truth Can Be Toxic

by aspiringwriterofamazingstories



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Creepy, F/M, GCPD, Gotham City - Freeform, Horror, I guess this is what you would call a bad romance?, Jonathan Crane - Freeform, Scarecrow - Freeform, Thriller, Toxicity, jonathan crane is a bad guy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:07:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28125843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aspiringwriterofamazingstories/pseuds/aspiringwriterofamazingstories
Summary: Newly recruited GCPD detective, Katrina Squires, seems to have shadows following her. Shortly after losing her beautiful twin sister, Sherry, to a car accident, the shy and bookish Jonathan Crane, who she had grown quite fond of, left town without so much of a peep or a good-bye. Years later after losing her mother to her battle with cancer, she felt her life just might be going in the right direction when settling into her new job and new city. While working on her first case, however, she runs into a familiar face. She is eager to catch up with Jonathan, but soon finds that tracking a mysterious serial killer--quickly becoming known around the city as the “Scarecrow Killer”--is taking both an emotional and mental toll on her, and she begins to wonder if some truths are better left hidden.
Relationships: Jonathan Crane/Original Character(s), Jonathan Crane/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Truth Can Be Toxic

**Author's Note:**

> First and foremost, Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow is not a good guy. I have dabbled a little bit in horror before, and I’m hoping this will be more along the lines of horror/thriller. That doesn’t mean there won’t be hints of romance, but I’m giving everyone a forewarning--Jonathan Crane is not going to be the guy you should be rooting for here!
> 
> Please note, I’m not knowledgeable about how detective work actually, you know, works--so keep that in mind.
> 
> If I continue this, you can also find posted chapters on my tumblr: newmooneyfanfiction.tumblr.com

For Katrina Squires, tragedy was like a shadow. Now, two years after her mother lost her battle with cancer, she finally felt like she was getting somewhere. She had never thought when she put in for the opening in Gotham City that they would accept some nobody from the midwest, yet there she was being shown around the precinct. Finally, she had left all the trouble behind her. Hopefully, she would never return.

She had such disdain for Sunny Springs, Montana. Sure, it was a beautiful place surrounded by farmland, pine trees, and mountains, but for Katrina, the scenery only masked sinister darkness that all the inhabitants, but herself, were completely and willingly oblivious to. She hadn’t been gone for more than two days and the idea of returning already made a chill creep up her spine. She was haunted by all too many bad memories of the place--Her sister, Sherry, the accident, her mother getting sick, and of course, there were the regrets that surrounded Jonathan Crane. Perhaps, if things were different, the two of them could have been friends, and maybe Sherry and Bo would not have had to die.

“Hey, Squires!” Detective Bullock snapped a few times as if trying to wake her from a daze, “You still with us?”

Harvey Bullock was a slightly portly man who had been with the precinct for a very long time, yet he somehow seemed out of place. She had heard from the others that he had worked closely with Commissioner Gordon for a while, and as far as she was concerned if Gordon trusted him, so could she.

“Yeah, sorry,” Katrina said, “I guess I just got lost in taking it all in.”

Bullock let out a sigh and nodded at her to continue along with him. Eventually, he led her to her workspace. “Here’s your desk,” he said before dropping a file in front of her, “and here’s your first case. Take some time to read up on it.” He then gave her a look that seemed both thoughtful and exhausted. “I’ve seen a lot like you come with that bright-eyed look,” he said, “It doesn’t take long for the lights to go off. Keep your head on straight, kid. Things get strange here in Gotham.”

She got the impression that it wasn’t supposed to be patronizing. Perhaps it was just her own insecurities, but Katrina couldn’t shake the feeling that everyone she was introduced to in the precinct was looking at her as if she was just some goody-two-shoes from Montana who didn’t have any idea what she walked into.  _ They have no idea _ , she thought. If they had seen the kind of things she saw when she was just a teenager--but nothing bad happened in a place like Sunny Springs, right? What would she know? Nevertheless, she thanked the man, giving him the opening to leave her with the file. It wasn’t until she opened it that she understood what Bullock was worried about:

_ “On September 8, 2019, Gotham University Professors Dr. Ulysses Bram (36), Dr. Rhonda O’Dell (48), and Dr. Ronald Schmidt (41) were found lying dead in lecture room 202 located in a building on the northwestern corner of campus named after the famous American writer Washington Irving. It was reported that student, Elisa Roberts, walked into the lecture room at approximately 3:30 PM to attend a class planned for the afternoon. No signs of trauma were found on the bodies by investigators and none of the victims had any significant health problems that could be connected to their deaths. Coroners determined their deaths were caused by heart failure. However, coroners also found traces of an unknown substance in their bodies. It was also noted that the facial contortions of the three victims were not typical and indicate that the victims were experiencing significant fear before dying. _

_ On September 30, 2019, Mary Keeny (88) was found in Central Park near Nightingale Bridge. She was found by a jogger, Marcus Montoya, at approximately 4:50 pm. Similar to Bram, O’Dell, and Schmidt, she was found with similar facial contortions, and coroners confirmed heart failure as the cause of death. Additionally, they noted a similar, if not the same, substance found in her blood. _

_ Based on these findings, it is believed that Keeny, Bram, O’Dell, and Schmidt are all victims of the same perpetrator.” _

Along with the descriptions were photographs of the victims. As the report indicated, all of them seemed to be frozen in fear--eyes wide and mouths agape as if they had been screaming when their hearts failed them, but there was something that struck her about Mary Keeny. Usually, Katrina would have sympathized with a poor old woman who was forced to live out the final moments of her life in crippling fear, and at first, she did feel a deep sadness for her. She herself never knew her own grandparents, but she wondered if this woman had grandchildren that she spoiled and who adored her. It wasn’t until she looked at the woman’s picture, however, that she felt something quite different. The woman was wearing a black almost Victorian-style dress with the collar stretched and buttoned up just below her pointed chin. Her teeth were yellow and decayed and her skin sickly pale. Her widened blue eyes, though, struck her the most. As well as fear, there was a terrifying meanness about them that disturbed Katrina. She couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe this woman was not a good person. 

Overcome by guilt for thinking such things about a victim, Katrina flipped the photograph over and continued reading. Several more victims had been found in a similar state, lying dead with their faces stuck in silent screams and for each file were more photographs of the victims. Some victims were high profile, such as one connected to the Falcone crime family, but not even an image of a dead mobster struck her the same way that old woman’s photograph did. She looked at it once more and found herself shocked all over again by her eyes. She flipped it over a second time and closed the file.

“Hey, Squires!”

Bullock shouting at her from across the hall nearly made her jump out of her skin. “We got a call,” he said beckoning her with a styrofoam cup of coffee in hand. “Let’s go!”

She wasn’t sure if she was quite ready yet, but she knew any hesitance on her part would all but confirm everyone’s initial thoughts of her. If she was going to prove them wrong, she was going to have to push that hesitance aside--along with that haunting image of those piercing blue eyes.


End file.
